Image source, Reuters

This concludes our live coverage of a second drama-filled day in the Kavanaugh proceedings.

For a round-up of all today's action and to keep across the latest developments, here's our top story:

Trump's Supreme Court nominee clears first hurdle

One of the women who confronted Jeff Flake in a lift and angrily told him she was a sexual assault survivor has told the Daily Beast her mother only learned about it after watching the jaw-dropping confrontation live on cable TV.

Maria Gallagher, 23, shouted at Flake: "I was sexually assaulted and nobody believed me!"

Gallagher told the Daily Beast, external her mother called her about the Senate protest and she needed to talk to her about it. "This won’t be an easy conversation," she said.

The other woman was identified as Ana Maria Archila, who also identified herself as a sexual assault survivor.

Archila is a member of several New York-based liberal advocacy groups. She told the New York Times, external that Flake "looked ashamed" and "had a hard time looking us in the face".

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Image source, EPA

It would be hard to top Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee drama, but Friday’s proceedings came close.

First, what we know for certain.

Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination has been approved by a straight party-line vote in the committee. It now moves floor of the Senate for a final action.

Beyond that, everything is up in the air.

Senator Jeff Flake, after saying he would back Kavanaugh, faced two emotional protesters in a gripping lift confrontation.

He then brought the committee to a standstill, holding behind-the-scenes negotiations with his Democratic colleagues.

What emerged appears to be a request for a one-week delay of the final Senate vote pending an FBI investigation.

That, minus the timeline, is what Democrats have been demanding all along – and Mr Flake may have just helped them get it.

If the White House issues the requisite instructions, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accommodates, Flake will be satisfied.

If not, the Arizona senator could help sink Kavanaugh in the final confirmation vote.

Assuming Democrats stick together, it would take only one more Republican defection to reject the nominee - and Flake isn’t the only Republican moderate still on the fence.

A verbal agreement, as they say, is seldom worth the paper it’s written on.

Plenty can happen to derail this last-minute accord. Two days of drama may just be the beginning.

Lisa Murkowski, a key Republican swing vote from Alaska, is telling reporters she spoke with Jeff Flake and she agrees with the Arizona senator’s calls for a one-week delay to allow the FBI to conduct a "limited" inquiry.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

At a news conference with the president of Chile, President Trump says he's going to "let the Senate handle" Kavanaugh.

"They'll make their decision, and they've been doing a good job," he says.

When asked about Ford, Trump says he thought her testimony "was very compelling."

"I thought that Brett's testimony, likewise, was really something that I haven't seen before, it was incredible, it was an incredible moment I think in the history of our country."

He reminds reporters that he isn't up to speed with all the details given his meeting with Chile's president, but that he just wants "it to work out well for the country".

As for Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, two possible Republican swing votes? Trump has no message for them

"They have to do what they think is right," he says.

The president ended the Kavanaugh questions by saying he's going to rely on what the senators want to do.

"I'll be totally reliant on what Senator Grassley and the group decide to do."

Here's the scene outside the Senate office building, where today's drama is unfolding.

Image source, AFP

President Trump - who would have to approve any FBI inquiry into Kavanaugh - has just been speaking about his nominee's accuser.

"She looks like a very fine woman," Trump says about Christine Blasey Ford.

"Certainly she was a very credible witness. She was very good in many respects.

"I don't know if this is going to continue onward or if we're going to get a vote.

"But I'm here. I'm not out there watching because I can't be," he said referring to his meeting now at the White House with the Chilean president.

Lindsey Graham says that Jeff Flake didn't make the decision because of the protesters who confronted him in lift earlier today.

"This is Jeff Flake. I mean this is what I actually like about the guy," he explains.

"Jeff is not a lawyer. This is hard."

Graham says he doesn't know if Republican leadership will back Flake's mandate, and that he has yet to find out the decision from his colleagues.

"Someone has to explain this to Trump," says Graham after leaving the hearing room.

He said senators are still trying to "figure out" what is going on.

"Am I mad at Jeff? No," he says.

President Trump just told reporters he's not "even a little bit" reconsidering Kavanaugh's nomination.

Asked about the delay, he said senators should do "whatever they think is necessary".

Grassley abruptly calls a recess, citing a two-hour maximum hearing rule.

The ranking member, Dianne Feinstein, immediately expresses outrage.

She questioned his decision in an exchange that was caught on a hot mic.

"You cut off a vote," Feinstein says.

Senator Jeff Flake voted to advance Kavanaugh, but he plunged the proceedings into turmoil by calling for a one-week delay in the full Senate vote for an FBI investigation into the Kavanaugh allegations.

"This country's being ripped apart here... and we've got to make sure to do due diligence," says Flake.

"But I think we can have a short pause and make sure the FBI can investigate."

He says he is prepared to make a request to the White House that an inquiry of limited scope be opened into the sexual assault claims against Kavanaugh.

"This is simply Senator Flake working with us to say for the good of the Senate and the good of the court, the American people deserve to have the facts followed up on," says Democrat Amy Klobuchar.

Republican John Cornyn also thanks Flake for allowing the vote to move forward.

"I love this committee but we are not the majority leader," says Lindsey Graham.

Senator Flake has said what would "make him feel comfortable on a final passage vote", he says.

But he says only the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell can decide when to hold a full floor vote.

Turmoil in the committee room as the senators engage in a to and fro over calls for an FBI investigation.

Senate Judiciary Committee votes 11-10 to report Kavanaugh nomination to the full Senate.